Dear Praying Folks,
I am in the Philippines, where it is hot and muggy, each day in the low to mid 90’s. Our first training sessions were a treat. We met in an air-conditioned church (I had no idea there was such a thing outside of Manila!). 7 churches were represented in this group of about three dozen trainees.
Sunday, I preached in the very first church we helped with church planting, 25 years ago in Tarlac. It is alive and well, twice as large as when we left it. It has two daughter churches, one of which had a baptism service that day.
Everything was going so well, then everything changed. Sunday, I had no problem preaching, but afterward, laryngitis set in until now I can hardly whisper. Fortunately, I have a couple of days until the youth leadership training, but I would appreciate your prayers that my voice would return.
Then, I got a text from my co-worker, Pastor Diawa. He got partway through preaching Sunday morning in Mangaldan and had to quit, because he was vomiting blood and had intestinal bleeding. He was taken to the hospital with a possible bleeding ulcer. We are still waiting for test results. By Sunday afternoon both of us were out of commission. Please pray for Pastor Diawa, that the bleeding in his stomach will stop, and that he will soon be released from the hospital.
Another one of our pastors, Pastor Narding, in San Jacinto, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. We think he may have been misdiagnosed, since he has returned to good health, and was in the training sessions this week.
Thank you for praying!
David